Dear Editor:
Due to opposition from some of our more backward state legislators,
Kansas has failed to deal with indoor public smoking. Apparently
determined to bolster our state's reputation as a center of antiscience,
they have foisted the responsibility onto local governments.
Tuesday's Traveler brought us the news that the Winfield
City Commission has exercised that responsibility and passed a
smoking ordinance over the objections of a few people who voiced
the usual inane and feckless arguments: first, that it will put
bars and restaurants out of business; second, that government
shouldn't tell business owners what to do.
Yeah, right. That's why there are no longer any bars or restaurants
in California, New York, or any of the other states that have
enacted legislation to deal with the problem. Of course, I'm being
sarcastic. For those who haven't been there, I can report that
California still has plenty of bars and restaurants, and they
seem to be doing just fine. I suspect the same is true in New
York and all those other states as well.
As for government meddling in business, I suppose we don't want
jackbooted thugs from the health department imposing their crazy
cleanliness standards on poor, struggling business owners. Presumably
the customers should be free to pick the maggots out of their
own food. The truth is that we, through our government, tell businesses
what to do all the time, and one of the areas in which we do that
is public health.
So Winfield has been intelligent enough to act. Now the question
is whether Arkansas City will do the same, or will choose to perpetuate
the old local saying that Winfield is smarter.